1. Inherent Vice

The only Oscar race tighter than the one for Best Actor this year might be Best Director, with a number of A-list names putting out new films. And after Fincher and Nolan took their shots, now it’s Paul Thomas Anderson’s turn with Inherent Vice, his drug-fueled adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel of the same name. Anderson’s described the film as Cheech and Chong meets Raymond Chandler, which already sounds like a cult classic in the making. Add Joaquin Phoenix as the hippie/private detective Doc Sportello and a star-studded cast though, and December can’t get here soon enough.